I grew up there, and I would not raise my family there.

How come? Seems pretty affordable, beachy and rural. How far back are you talking?

I left about 20 years ago but have visited several times in recent years.

It is beachy and rural and housing prices are on the affordable side.

One of my biggest issues was there is very little diversity and a fair amount of bigotry.

At the time I left crime and drug use among teens and young adults was fairly high. Not sure how it is today.

Most retail is chain stores and strip malls. You may live within walking distance of a strip mall, but it is really not a walking community and you will need to drive to do pretty much anything.

Elementary schools could be within walking distance but middle and high school are definitely a bus or car ride.

It's also very far right politically and it's pretty common to see Trump/Lets Go Brandon/ Confederate flags on houses and trucks.

I'm just focusing on the negative. I'm sure some will have more positive things to say.

Best thing would be to take a trip there one day. Find a couple of listing you might be interested in and scope out the community. Summer traffic can get crazy on the weekends so between now and spring would be a good time.

Kind of a weird town. Like the other person said, lots of bigotry and "good ol boys" and lots of strip malls. No real walk ability and no real downtown area (as far as I could tell). There's a big rehab there and from what I hear a decent drug problem. Overall seems like kind of a boring dead end place, at least to me personally, maybe your priorities are different. Some really beautiful and interesting nature around there though, I love Double Trouble park and fishing in the area.

How do you feel about openly racist neighbors and fuck all to do? Bonus points for rampant heroin and crack use.

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I lived there for several years and found it to be a nice area, but there were a lot of empty businesses and storefronts and it was getting a little run down. But it was after Sandy so hopefully that has started to change and rebuild.